Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 27, 1995 TAG: 9511270100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD L. BERKE THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Frustrated with President Clinton and even more dissatisfied with his Republican rivals, seven prominent Democratic and independent politicians have been quietly discussing the prospects of fielding an independent candidate for president next year.
The goal of the group, organized more than two months ago by former Gov. Dick Lamm of Colorado, a Democrat, is to set out a philosophy for a third party or an independent candidate and perhaps even to endorse someone to make the race.
``It's really a group of people who have a lot of experience who sense a vacuum,'' said one of the participants, former Sen. Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts, who made a respectable showing in the Democratic presidential primaries in 1992.
But he said the group is ambivalent because it does not want to put up a candidate who has no chance of winning and would merely siphon off votes from Clinton in the November election.
``It may be that we put a philosophy on paper instead of a candidate,'' Tsongas said in an interview Sunday. ``We want to be mindful of the implications of what we do - of the spoiler concept.''
He said many members of the group had hoped Colin Powell would run for president as an independent and that without Powell in the race the pool of appealing candidates ``really drops off dramatically.''
The group is dominated by politicians who have reputations as centrists. Most have left public office. At least two have been actively, and publicly, weighing whether to run as independents next year: Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., who is retiring from the Senate, and Lowell P. Weicker Jr., a former Republican senator from Connecticut who went on to be elected governor of that state as an independent.
Tsongas said he was not considering a White House bid, and that neither were the other participants: former Sen. Gary Hart, D-Colo.; former Rep. Tim Penny, D-Minn.; and Gov. Angus King of Maine, an independent.
Thus far, the group, whose existence was first reported in today's edition of Time magazine, has held two conference calls of about two hours each, and its participants have had many more conversations among themselves.
In the first call last month, members agreed to write papers setting out their philosophies for an independent party.
In the second call, they discussed their papers and agreed that there is a need for a party that is socially liberal, fiscally conservative, and favors protecting the environment and overhauling the campaign finance system.
Members expressed concern that Clinton and the Democratic Party were not properly focused on those goals. They also are wary of becoming beholden to Ross Perot and his group - or of promoting the Texan as a possible presidential candidate.
The establishment of the group seems to reflect a sentiment among many leading Democrats who are not satisfied with Clinton's leadership that their energies could be put to better - and ultimately more successful - use by backing an independent rather than risking damage to the Democratic Party by seeking a challenger to the president in the primaries.
``We want to let both parties know that this constituency is a majority constituency - it isn't just in an ivory tower somewhere,'' said Tsongas, who noted that he talks to voters frequently on behalf of his anti-deficit group, the Concord Coalition. ``If the parties insist on remaining captive to their fringe elements, there will be a third party.''
The group has scheduled another conference call for Sunday, when members may make some decisions about whether to back a candidate. Even if it does not field a candidate, Tsongas said, the group will release a kind of manifesto of its political philosophy in an effort to influence the race next year.
While the deadlines for independent candidacies are still months away, money is another matter: There is less and less time for anyone to amass the millions of dollars necessary to wage a competitive race.
Though he organized what participants informally call The Lamm Group, Lamm said in a telephone interview Sunday that he was ``not authorized to say a thing'' about it. Reminded that since he organized the group, he could authorize himself to speak, he replied, ``I'm not ready to talk to anyone publicly about this.''
Keywords:
POLITICS
by CNB